WI: The Mongols converted to Islam?

Angel Heart

Banned
I am aware of the fact that in OTL the Golden Horde, the Chagatai and the Il-Khanate and their successor splinter Khanates converted to Islam, but what about the Mongols from Eastern Asia?
What if the Mongols (all demographics, not just the ruling caste like the OTL Turkic tribes from central Asia) converted to Islam instead of Bhuddism by lets say after the fall of the Yüan Dynasty? What would be long term consequences in terms of demographics, lifestyle, political power, foreign relations and so on? And how do you think might this ATL Mongolia look like today?
 
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Well, Mongols converting after the Yuan dyanasty won't have much of an effect on history, they were mostly a spent force by then. Its also almost ASB, they were much closer to Buddhist centers than Muslim ones.

Now, if you mean, say, Genghis or Kublai Khan converting, it would certainly be interesting to see China under Muslim rule (although I doubt it would last very long-Confucian ideology had pretty well entrenched itself by this point, and trying to Islamicize China is going to alienate all the bureaucrats and nobility the Mongols need to govern, and will eventually spark a revolt).

The Mongols generally didn't care too much about religion-Genghis Khan's followers were a mix of Buddhists, Muslims, Nestorian Christians, and traditional Mongol Shamanists. Genghis Khan, his sons, and their immediate successors belonged to the last catagory, and when their descendents converted from it they just picked whatever religion the majority of their subjects followed (Islam in the Middle East and Central Asia, Buddhism everywhere else).
 

cashew

Banned
I am aware of the fact that in OTL the Golden Horde, the Chagatai and the Il-Khanate and their successor splinter Khanates converted to Islam, but what about the Mongols from Eastern Asia?
What if the Mongols (all demographics, not just the ruling caste like the OTL Turkic tribes from central Asia) converted to Islam instead of Bhuddism by lets say after the fall of the Yüan Dynasty? What would be long term consequences in terms of demographics, lifestyle, political power, foreign relations and so on? And how do you think might this ATL Mongolia look like today?

They already did. They're called the Mughals of India.
 

Angel Heart

Banned
Well, Mongols converting after the Yuan dyanasty won't have much of an effect on history, they were mostly a spent force by then. Its also almost ASB, they were much closer to Buddhist centers than Muslim ones.

Now, if you mean, say, Genghis or Kublai Khan converting, it would certainly be interesting to see China under Muslim rule (although I doubt it would last very long-Confucian ideology had pretty well entrenched itself by this point, and trying to Islamicize China is going to alienate all the bureaucrats and nobility the Mongols need to govern, and will eventually spark a revolt).

The Mongols generally didn't care too much about religion-Genghis Khan's followers were a mix of Buddhists, Muslims, Nestorian Christians, and traditional Mongol Shamanists. Genghis Khan, his sons, and their immediate successors belonged to the last catagory, and when their descendents converted from it they just picked whatever religion the majority of their subjects followed (Islam in the Middle East and Central Asia, Buddhism everywhere else).

I thought that Islam might make the Mongols giving up their nomadic lifestyle which would have an impact on their demographic situation.

They already did. They're called the Mughals of India.

I mean the ones from OTL Mongolia and Nei Menggu.
 
Why would it do that? Islam was developed, popularized, and spread by a nomadic people...

Indeed. Islam suits nomads fine. It is a very universalist, abstract faith that requires little material culture to practice; the only requirement is having at least a small-ish educated class, not much more numerous than native Turcic shamans (or Christian or Buddhist clergy for that matter, in those Turcs that were't Muslim).
 
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